Pope Francis

Saturday, 21 November 2015

China’s Catholic Priests put faith in recruitment drive

"Roman Catholics are rapidly increasing in larger cities across China,
but efforts to train more priests have been held back by the lack of
applicants for seminaries, according to the Shanghai-based China Daily
newspaper.

Zou Yunlong, a 32-year-old student at the National Seminary of the
Catholic Church in Beijing, told China Daily of the cost of being a
Roman Catholic priest, including being forbidden to get married and have
children, living and possibly dying alone, and constant readiness to
serve his parishioners at any hour of the day for the rest of his life.

“Your parents will lose the person they should rely on in the
future,” he said. “It’s a process of constant self-reflection to see if I
am fit for the priesthood.”"